Wednesday, 30 October 2024
October marks the liminal space where the eventing season comes to an end while the jumping indoor circuit gets underway. At home and away, World Class Programme athletes have been producing fantastic results against some of the best in the world.
Robert Whitaker and the black stallion Vermento – bred by Robert’s famous father, John Whitaker – have made an impressive start to the indoor showjumping season by taking the win at the Helsinki leg of the FEI World Cup series. The pair had previously finished sixth at the first World Cup leg in Oslo the week before, giving them a very strong start to the series.
In the Finnish capital, Jorge Guilherme’s track of 16 jumping efforts was filled with short turns and tight lines, with the field 39 competitors producing 13 clear rounds. In the jump-off, the early benchmark was set by the third combination, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and Is-Minka, who set a time to beat of 37.56 seconds.
Robert and Vermento set off with intent, choosing to be economical with their lines over hitting the accelerator. At the halfway point, they were 0.42 seconds up on Steve and Is-Minka and kept their momentum up to stop the clock on 36.84 seconds. The only combination to come close were France’s Kevin Staut and Dialou Blue PS, who slotted into second place ahead of the Swiss pair.
Robert’s win marks the second time he’s lifted the trophy in Helsinki, after topping the class there in 2019 with the legendary Catwalk. He currently sits in fourth place on the overall FEI Jumping World Cup rankings, tied with Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet.
The World Cup series moves to Lyon this week, giving the world's best jumpers the opportunity to pick up more ranking points.
Great Britain reigned supreme on the podium at the final CCI5* of the year at Les Etoiles de Pau, France, taking all three of the top placings.
In a true underdog story, the win went to Caroline Harris and D. Day, who were contesting only their second run at the level. In a very influential cross-country phase, which saw the very wet and muddy conditions get the better of many combinations, Caroline and D. Day rose from 22nd place to overtake the dressage leaders and last year’s winners, Ros Canter and Izilot DHI, courtesy of the fastest round of the day. A clear round on the final day sealed their victory for a final score of 40.3.
Hot on Caroline’s heels to finish just 0.3 penalties behind were Ros and ‘Isaac’. After a tricky season, which has seen Isaac retire on the cross-country course at both Badminton and Burghley, a second-place finish was exactly the season conclusion that Ros would want for her quirky gelding. They scored a fantastic 19.0 in the dressage phase and added only time penalties during the cross-country phase for a final total of 40.6.
Third place went to Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality, a former ride of Piggy March. Tom and ‘Norris’ were the overnight leaders after day one of dressage, dropping to fourth at the conclusion of the first phase, and one of the faster cross-country rounds of the day on Saturday saw them rise to third place. They were another pair to jump clear, earning them a podium finish in their second CCI5* outing as a combination. Tom’s focus will now turn to the imminent arrival of his first child with wife Harriet.
Piggy March finished seventh with Halo, while Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ rounded out the top 10.
It’s no surprise to see Oliver Townend on the top of a CCI5* podium and, at MARS Maryland CCI5*, he added an astonishing ninth title to his tally, having already taken a win at Kentucky CCI5* with Cooley Rosalent at the start of the season. This win came with his faithful campaigner, Ballaghmor Class, who himself is a four-time victor at the level (Burghley 2017, Kentucky 2021, Burghley 2021, Maryland 2024).
The pair sat in second place after dressage, just over a penalty behind the home side’s Tamra Smith and Mai Baum, with Bubby Upton and Cola in third. A tough cross-country course – the last we’ll see from renowned designer Ian Stark – whittled the field from 23 combinations down to eight, putting Oliver and ‘Thomas’ out in front on 31.3 following the retirement of Tamie and Mai Baum. David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed rose to second place with 34.5 penalties, ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Price and Falco.
On the final day, a brilliant clear round sealed the win for Oliver and Thomas. A fence down saw David and Galileo Nieuwmoed drop behind Tim and Falco, but still pick up their second CCI5* podium placing after coming second at Burghley last year. Bubby Upton and Cola held on to their fifth place after cross-country.
The eventing stars of the future recently headed to Mondial du Lion, France, for the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships for Young Horses. Top honours in the seven-year-old class went to Britain’s Gemma Tattersall riding Chilli Morning IV, while Kitty King and Kantango took the runners-up spot. Meanwhile, Max Warburton piloted Norway van de Haar to the second step on the podium in the six-year-old class.
This year’s seven-year-old cohort was notable because it contained not one, but two clones of the great stallion Chilli Morning, who won Badminton Horse Trials with William Fox-Pitt in 2015 – Chilli Morning II (known as “Duo”) was ridden by Germany’s Julia Krajewski, while Chilli Morning IV (known as “Quattro”) was brought forward by Gemma, both on behalf of owners Chris and Lisa Stone. Not only are both horses the spitting image of their late sire, but they also produced exactly the same dressage score of 26.2 in the first phase to put them in joint second overnight behind Podium Potential Pathway athlete Lizzie Baugh and Calida Spice.
It was cross-country time penalties that opened out the field – clear rounds inside the time saw Gemma and Quattro take the lead and Kitty and Kantango slot into second place, while 2.4 time penalties pushed Lizzie and “Spice” to third for an all-British top-three on Saturday night. Julia and Duo slipped to fifth after picking up 3.6 time penalties. On the final day, classy clear showjumping rounds kept the top two placings the same, while one down dropped Lizzie off the podium to fifth. The result means that Gemma can claim another accomplished Chilli Morning offspring for her talented string, which includes CCI5* winner Chilli Knight and two-time CCI4*-S winner Jalapeno.
Ben Maher returned to HOYS after a 10-year absence to take the Dallamires Stable Cup with seasoned campaigner Ginger-Blue. The pair topped the six-horse jump-off with a time of 31.50, finishing 2.5 seconds ahead of Joe Stockdale and Ebanking. Sienna Charles and Valkiry de Zance rounded out an all-British podium.
In the Accumulator class – where points are collected for each fence jumped – it was Jodie Hall-McAteer and Kimosa Van Het Kritrahof who topped the class. William Whitaker and Carlina d’Argouges were second, while George Whitaker and Peanut took third.
In the Dressage Future Elite Championship, eight future stars of the dressage world went before a judging panel of Peter Storr (H), Andrew Gardner (C) and David Trott (M). Fresh from victory in the Saracen Horse Feeds Inter I class at the LeMieux National Dressage Championships, Laura Tomlinson and Forest Hill took the win with 75.833% – despite the eight-year-old homebred being the youngest horse in the class. Second place went to Andrew Gould and Active Solaris (74.458%), while the podium was completed by Sarah Higgins and Samuel (74.167%).
Scott Brash finished as runner-up in the Grand Prix at the Longines Beijing Masters (13–16 October), riding borrowed horse Zidup Van Beek. The pair produced one of only double clear rounds to finish 2.29 seconds behind the winner, China’s Ruiji Liang and La Luna Hidalgo J&F.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Scott then headed to the inaugural Global Champions Tour of Rabat (18–20 October). Piloting Hello Valentino, he finished second in the CSI5* 1.45m against the clock, just 0.1 seconds behind the famously fast Julien Epaillard and Dubai de Soie.
Harry Charles got his six-month trip to the USA off to a flying start with a win in the Major League Show Jumping team competition in Tryon (15–20 October). As the anchor combination for team The Archers, he and Bandit secured the win with a clear round, earning the team an additional point in the season’s standings for producing the fastest round of the night. They also picked up second in the 43-strong individual competition, just 0.43 seconds behind Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam on James Kann Cruz.
Laura Collett finished her season with a trip to Boekelo CCIO4*-NC-L (10–13 October) with Dacapo. The pair posted a great dressage score of 23.7 to take the lead, which they held with a clear cross-country and just 1.6 time penalties. One pole down on the final day handed the win to Germany’s Julia Krajewski and her Olympic ride Nickel 21, but the pair still secured second with a final tally of 29.3.